Bolivia: May 3 elections postponed due to coronavirus

Disinfection of a street with graffiti on the ground which reads “Stay at home, take care of your family” as the spread of the Covid-19 continues in La Paz, April 14, 2020. REUTERS / Manuel Claure

Text by: Alice Campaignolle

It was this Sunday, May 3, that the Bolivian presidential and legislative elections were to take place, after the failure of last year. Last October, there was a vote in Bolivia, but that only resulted in the resignation of Evo Morales. The country has since lived led by an unelected president. And the health crisis led to the postponement of the vote to an as yet unknown date.

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From our correspondent in La Paz,

The Bolivian elections will not take place this Sunday. Scheduled since last January for May 3, the Covid-19 has come to upset the political agenda, already battered several times in recent months.

Indeed, it was necessary to start from scratch to organize this new vote so that the inhabitants may have confidence in their electoral process. New vote, which in addition to being complex to set up, is expensive, the last elections amounted to around 30 million euros.

Despite the evidence of this postponement, due to the pandemic, many Bolivians express their dissatisfaction with this government which has not been elected but which has nevertheless ruled the country with an iron fist for almost 6 months.

► Read also: Bolivians call for elections despite the coronavirus epidemic

Last Thursday the Assembly passed a law imposing the organization of elections within 90 days. The president has kept saying it since: this deadline is too short, she says.

The legislative power is still in Bolivia dominated by the party of Evo Morales , exiled in Argentina, and the interim president , fierce opponent, accuses him of attacking public health to want the elections to take place as quickly as possible. Tension is mounting in Bolivia.

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  • Bolivia
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